In common with application Ser. No. 108,642, the now abandoned, instant application discloses a modified form of a child-resistant dispensing closure of the same general type as those disclosed and claimed in my earlier application Ser. No. 061,832, filed July 30, 1979, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,653, granted Dec. 2, 1980.
In common with the child-resistant dispensing closures of my earlier application, each of the closures of the instant case is fabricated from a resilient plastic material and consists of a cup-shaped body which is adapted to be retained on the end of a container, an axially protruding dispensing nozzle on the top of the body and a saucer-shaped lid for closing the nozzle, the lid being connected to the closure parts by a flexible hinge. In common with the earlier application the closures of the present case also comprise latching means which retain the lid in nozzle closing position on top of the body.
The closures of the present case differ from those of my earlier application Ser. No. 061,832 in that the retaining means of the present case may be disengaged by moving the lid laterally of the closure body in a direction transverse to the median diametric line of the hinge in order to protrude a portion of the lid (some embodiments comprising a horizontally extending tab) radially beyond the top of the body so that the protruding portion can be grasped to swing the lid away from closing position.
A closure according to the instant invention constitutes an improvement over dispensing closures of the art because it is rendered child-resistant by reason of the fact that in closing position, the lid has no protruding parts and, therefore, the lid cannot readily be grasped and swung away from closing position. The lid must first be moved laterally in order to at least partially disengage the catch means before the lid can be swung away from closing position to expose the nozzle in order that content material may be dispensed from the container.